mikhailgtrski

IMO - a 5-way is very easy to operate, unless it's a cheap one with dodgy detents. Easier for sure than flipping a 3-way toggle plus operating a push-pull pot.

If you want to keep the Strat tone and appearance, you might check into these Duncan Classic Stack Plus. I recently heard a pro guitarist playing a Strat with Dimarzio Virtual Vintage pickups (the '54 model, I think) and it had a really nice, authentic vintage Strat sound. Happy Hunting Mike

1 vote for sounds great. I tend to prefer a slightly heavier guitar (probably influenced by that first real LP I tried years ago), though I really don't care about the weight so much as long as the tone and sustain is there. To put it another way, I'll gladly sacrifice back comfort for tone. Thin guitars don't do it for me... a regular PRS body feels unnaturally thin, but the McCarty seems "normal" with the "extra" thickness. My new one is chambered mahogany, so heavier wood but a little less of it.

Ah... to be 16 again and have all day to play/make guitars.

That's some nice looking wood! Mattia will be proud of you for not staining that beautiful mahogany.

I like your "new" take on the Dano thing! The ash neck makes me think "Louisville Slugger"

Sure, no worries, you can do it by ear... it's just nice to know what the level is so you can be sure it matches your outboard gear (most of the good rack processors have an input level meter anyway). Sometimes there's a fine line between a hot "clean" signal and one that overdrives your f/x, and it can be hard to pick out the bad distortion when you're feeding it a good distortion signal. If you have good ears you'll be fine. EDIT: If you go with stompboxes, they are usually designed for instrument-level input. But, yeah, use your ears.

Well, yes, that's kinda the procedure I was trying to describe.

Line-level (I typed 'voltage' by mistake - it's the electrician in me ) is usually +4dBu, the signal level that pro audio equipment (mixers, etc.) works with. I'm not exactly sure how you'd measure it other than turning the L-pad all the way down, plugging into a mixer with a VU meter, then carefully turning up the pad until you're reading something between 0 and +4 dBu. (I'm sure you know this, but plugging a speaker-level signal into a line-level mixer can and will fry it instantly.) Some of the electronics forum gurus might have some better info for you. Some technical background on signal levels is here.

As long as it drops your speaker-level signal down to a line-voltage signal (and the resistors can handle the load) it should work. My Lexicon 284 (3 watts) just has a 5 watt resistor as the dummy load. The Weber MASS is something I'd like to try, though. That "speaker motor" concept sounds really interesting, and I'd like to A/B it with a straight resistive load to see if it sounds/responds any differently. It could be that it only makes a noticeable difference when you're attenuating vs. using a dummy load. Mickguard - It's a variation on the old EVH load box rig (sans the Variac )... it lets you place the f/x after the power amp distortion.

If I read the FAQ correctly, it doesn't do exactly the same thing as a Tremsetter. Sounds like you can have it full floating (off), locked (on), or blocked for dive-only. The Tremsetter stabilizes the bridge while retaining full floating tremolo function. In my experience, it greatly improves the tone and sustain of a Floyd-equipped guitar, and it actually makes bending (and finger vibrato) easier, since the trem doesn't sag forward when you bend strings (or palm mute or rest your hand on the bridge). A regular Floyd (or any floating trem) might give you the illusion of easier bending, but you actually have to bend farther to achieve the same note, again due to the sag effect. You are also losing string energy when the bridge sags - this (besides the lack of string-to-body coupling) is what causes the decrease in tone and sustain. (In case you were wondering, there's no difference in string tension between different bridge types - tension is purely a function of string gauge and tuning pitch.) Nothing wrong with the Tremol-no, they're just different animals. Mike

Yup, that works. I don't think you need all the tone-shaping bells and whistles so much when you're using a dummy load. My tube power amp just has a couple of 5-watt resistors that kick in when it's not plugged into a cab. The tone shaping is more important when you're using it as an attenuator. I'm using a Marshall 8008 single-space power amp. It's switchable between linear and "valvestate" output, and it sounds much better in VS mode - something to do with speaker damping, I think. In case you're interested, here's my complete signal chain: -Guitar -Marshall JMP-1 midi tube preamp (w/ NOS Mullard ECC83s) -Lexicon Signature 284 tube power amp (preamp bypassed, w/ NOS Tesla EL84s) -Hush Super C noise reduction -Alesis Q20 multi-f/x processor -Sabine rack mount tuner -Marshall 8008 power amp -Marshall 1936 2x12 cab loaded with Celestion G12H 70th anniversary reissues -Shure SM57 to house sound I switch preamp/processor patches via a MIDI controller, plus I can adjust f/x parameters on the fly with the CC pedals. I also have an old ADA Microcab speaker simulator in my rack, just in case I have to go direct. It's a heavy rack + cab to tote around, but it suits my purposes really nicely. There's a ton of info and some DYI links on this stuff at amptone.

I like it a lot Yes, you can put your f/x after the amp distortion, and you can adjust your volume to fit the room without losing your "crankedness"... although the speakers still like to be pushed slightly. My EL84 amp has a built-in load resistor, but check out the THD Hotplate or Weber MASS or Palmer PDI/PGA

Yup, depends on what you want to do with the delay... if it's placed at the front end, the amp will "see" the taps/echoes as notes coming from your guitar and they'll interact/intermodulate with the notes you played (i.e. the "ghost" harmonies you can get playing certain double-stops or other intervals). This can be a cool thing, ala The Edge... "Pride (In the Name of Love)" is a perfect example. After the amp, you get pure echoes without the interaction. Better for "realistic" ambiance.

There was an audible difference in the early days of digital... those old 12/16 bit processors tended to have a brittle edge to them (like you could hear the the "stair steps" in the waveform). Not so much with the newer stuff. Although I have yet to find a digital flanger that has the great jet "whoosh" of my old Electric Mistress. Some of the old analog "warmth" is actually distortion, i.e. the old Memory Man units - they wouldn't give you "pristine" delay, but a lot of players prefer that lo-fi sound.

I'd add this caveat: as long as you aren't using a lot of power tube distortion. I use a fairly clean tube preamp sound... most of my tone comes from winding my EL84 power amp all the way up (only goes to 10 ). My Alesis Q20 sounds horrible if I insert it between the pre and power sections. The power tube saturation/compression distorts the reverb/delay and messes with the wet/dry balance and decay. It sounds great post-loadbox (think EVH rig). Mike

Agreed - digital f/x in front of a tube amp = bad tone (IMO). Digital delay/reverb into tube distortion/compression sounds horrible. Keeping your time-based stuff post-loadbox or post-mic sounds much better.

Ah... I misread - my bad. Do like crafty said.

Basslines are Seymour Duncan. They changed the name on their bass pickups 5-6 years ago. I have a set in my 5-string Warmoth Jazz and they sound incredible. IIRC - the covers are like those on a strat single-coil, they just slide on over the coil and the mounting screws hold everything in place. I doubt you have a defective pickup. You may have shorted out a coil wire when you tried to solder it. Those coil wires are very delicate and don't like excessive heat from improper soldering technique. Mike

Not much to add here (I use a rack setup: tube amp --> load box--> f/x--> power amp--> cab) except to say that your time-based f/x (reverb/delay/chorus) might not sound so good if they are patched in ahead of the amp and you're cranking it to get power tube distortion. Try them out with your amp first if possible. Mike

Yes, or you could use a 3-way tele/strat switch if you don't want to combine pickups.

Water from wet sanding can get in there and swell the wood, causing problems with a nitro finish. Those are small diameter holes anyway - easy to drill after the fact - and their location isn't critical like bridge studs, which you normally would want to pre-drill. Mike

Master Drak, you convince young grasshoppa I made the trip to Seattle and picked up a quart of lacquer retarder this afternoon. I'll give the 2% retarder thing a try. How long do you wait between coats? The instructions include a caution about allowing extra time between coats. I've been giving it at least three hours (that is, when I've had time to shoot more than one per day ). Mattia - I saw a bottle of Behlen's "Qualasole" padding lacquer at Rockler today... that's probably the stuff you were thinking of. Mike

A nice spirited debate never hurts I noticed last night that the thinner label has the same instructions as the lacquer. Curious that they wouldn't update their labels if in fact they now recommend a different method. It is pretty thick looking stuff straight out of the tin - I'm fairly well convinced it's not "ready to spray". Wonderful stuff for drop filling. I'd be interested to see how the viscosity compares to their Stringed Instrument formula. It flows pretty well at 1:1 as long as I go slow with the gun and wet it out a bit. That takes a bit of practice after using rattlecans, which don't afford you the luxury of slow passes. I'll take the retarder under advisement, but I'd prefer to save it as a last resort - a bit skittish about doing anything to increase the cure time. Thanks, guys. Mike

So you sand/buff the epoxy instead of the shell? I've never heard of any expert inlay artists doing it that way. Doesn't seem like you'd get the best appearance out of the shell, unless you're polishing it before you inlay it. Polished shell under lacquer looks nice, but rough shell under epoxy? I'd hazard a guess that epoxy won't buff out nearly as nice as shell, either. If you like it, great. But I wouldn't recommend that method. My $0.02 Mike